Bob Bodell of Frankfort was a starter at Maryland for coach Lefty Driesell. (Frankfort Yearbook Photo)
By MAC YOCUM, Contributing Writer
The NCAA tournament is upon us. In most cases the hopes and dreams of many will be dashed. To many, their hopes and dreams have already been fulfilled by simply making the tournament.
Over the years dozens of Kentucky high school hoop stars have appeared in the Big Dance. Fans, for the most part, can tell you the names of their hometown heroes who graced the NCAA tournament floor. But the stories of many of those local stars have been lost to history, known only to a few who followed their careers.
Kentucky high school basketball has a connection to just about every team in the tournament. For this article we are going to reminisce about a Kentucky connection at Marquette, Vanderbilt, UCLA and Maryland.
Most basketball fans know the rich history of Marquette basketball. From 1964 to 1977, the colorful Al McGuire made Marquette a household name. Stars like Butch Lee, Bo Ellis, George Thompson, and Jim Chones took the Warriors, as they were known then, to great heights. In 1977 Marquette reigned as the NCAA champs.
But a decade before Al McGuire arrived at Marquette, a young man from Pikeville, Kentucky was making history at Marquette. Ralph Wilson was a star at Perry Cline High School in Pikeville. Perry Cline was the African-American school in Pikeville at the time. Perry Cline High School didn’t have a gym, so they actually played their games at the all white Pikeville High School gym.
Black and white fans alike would pack the gym to see Ralph Wilson work his magic. His options for college in the South consisted of only all black schools. His white fans in Pikeville took it upon themselves to reach out to schools up north to tout their local star. Marquette University was one school that didn’t care that Wilson was an African-American. So Wilson and his coach visited Marquette. The Marquette coach was William Chandler and he had Wilson play with the other freshmen he was recruiting.
Those other freshmen couldn’t handle Wilson’s passes so Coach Chandler stopped the tryout and had him play with the varsity. In that setting Wilson shined. He went on to play at Marquette for four seasons and led Marquette to their first championship, the National Catholic Invitational Tournament title. Ralph Wilson was the first African-American basketball player to suit up for Marquette, paving the way for the stars that helped Al McGuire make Marquette a powerhouse in the 60’s and 70’s.
The Vanderbilt basketball record book is full of the names of Kentucky high school basketball legends. Phil Cox, Barry Goheen, Scott Draud and dozens of others have led the Commodores to many a victory. One Vandy star that many may not remember is a player better known as “Snake”.
Bob Grace was an All State player at Christian County High School. As a sophomore he made a twisting move to the basket and someone said it resembled a snake and the nickname stuck. The Nashville TV stations were what was available in Hopkinsville, Kentucky so Snake was familiar with Vanderbilt basketball. Adolph Rupp offered him a scholarship but Grace just didn’t feel that UK was the place for him.
Paducah native and future Vandy head coach Roy Skinner convinced Snake that he should be a Commodore. He didn’t visit the campus. He was sold on Roy Skinner and Vanderbilt was an hour and a half away versus three plus hours to UK and his parents could easily get to games in Nashville.
Bob Grace grew to 6-7 and moved into the Commodore starting line-up as a sophomore. That season Snake averaged over 14 rebounds per game. He led Vandy to wins over UK and twice over Tennessee. As a junior, he teamed with Clyde Lee, and led the Commodores to wins over Duke, Memphis and UK. Again he averaged double figures in rebounds with over 12 per game. His senior season, Grace and Lee led Vandy to their first SEC title and a number 6 national ranking. He led the ‘Dores to the NCAA tournament where they made it to the regional final before falling to eventual national runner-up Michigan by only 2 points.
At the end of the year, Bob Grace was named to the All-SEC team. Bob “Snake” Grace still ranks on the all-time Vandy rebounding list with 837, and his career rebound average of 11 per game ranks third on the all time list.
In 1961, tiny Lily High in Laurel County won the 12th region to go to the Sweet 16. Lily High was led by high scoring Harvey Mize and junior big man Doug McIntosh. The following year, McIntosh got Lily back to the regional final where they fell to Somerset. The All-State team featured the great Mike Silliman, Larry Conley and Mike Redd. Doug McIntosh was an honorable mention player. He was all set to go to Tennessee but Coach John Sines left and before new Volunteer Coach Ray Mears could convince him to come to Tennessee McIntosh had decided to go elsewhere.
Elsewhere was Westwood, California. Doug McIntosh headed to UCLA to play for John Wooden. Coach Wooden didn’t have much hopes for McIntosh ever making a contribution to the Bruins. But as a sophomore McIntosh became a valuable sub as Wooden and UCLA won their first national championship. He actually played 30 minutes in the title game versus Duke and he pulled down 11 rebounds. The next season. McIntosh moved into the starting line-up when the Bruins again won the national title. His senior season, the year of Rupp’s Runts at UK, Doug McIntosh appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s preseason basketball edition. He finished his Bruin career with averages of 6 points and 6 rebounds per game.
In 1969, Lefty Driesell left Davidson for the University of Maryland. One of his recruits at Davidson was Bob Bodell and when he left for Maryland he convinced Bodell to come with him. Bob Bodell was a two-year star at Frankfort High School. As a freshman and sophomore at Frankfort he played behind future JUCO All-American and JUCO national champion Bobby Jones. Jones led Drake to two elite 8’s.
But back to Bodell. As a sophomore at Maryland, Bodell was a vital reserve. Bodell’s first season on the varsity the team went 14-12. The recruiting class of Bodell, Jim O’Brien and Howard White laid the foundation of things to come for the Terrapins. His junior year, 1972, saw Bodell move into the starting lineup with O’Brien, White and varsity newcomers Tom McMillen and Len Elmore. With only the conference tournament champion going to the NCAA tournament, despite a 27-5 record and number 14 national ranking, Maryland went to the NIT. The Terps rolled through the NIT field to claim the title.
Bodell’s senior season saw freshmen eligibility reinstated and star freshman John Lucas joined the starting lineup. Lucas, Bodell, O’Brien, McMillen and Elmore were one of the best lineups the college game had seen to that point. They made the NCAA field because North Carolina State was on probation. The Wolfpack had won the league tournament over Maryland but the Terps knew going in that they would be dancing. The Terps received a first round bye and rolled over Syracuse in their first game. With only a 25 team tournament, that win put Maryland in the regional final against Providence.
Providence was led by the dynamic guard Ernie Digregorio and the great Marvin “Bad News” Barnes. The Friars eliminated Maryland by 14, 103-89, to go to the Final Four. Many experts still say that Maryland was the one team that would have given Bill Walton and UCLA the best opposition in the Final Four. Bob Bodell would be drafted by the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics following the season.
Bob Bodell also etched his name in the history books because he was the one who went to Lefty Driesell with the idea of holding practice at midnight in 1972. The previous year Coach Driesell had started the season with a midnight run but prior to that 1972-73 season Bodell went to Lefty with the idea to actually practice at midnight and thus Midnight Madness was born.
Four forgotten Kentucky high school hoop legends, from regions of the state, who all left their mark on college basketball and on the NCAA tournament in one way or another.
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This story and other stories of Kentucky high school legends can be found on the Forgotten Heroes podcast available at most podcast outlets.
